Black Friday In Oneida County

New Hartford, NY (WIBX) - Black Friday, the day professional shoppers and those just out looking for a good deal is here, and stores all over the country are dealing with an overwhelming crowd of bargain hunters, including right here in Oneida County.

Businesses located in Consumer Square on Commercial Drive are overflowing with cars. We spoke to one shopper who said he found exactly what he was looking for. Mark from Utica said, "It wasn't too bad. I thought it was going to be a lot more crowded in there. The isle's were very packed but I got all my nieces and nephews done in one stop so I can't complain and I saved a lot of money." Another shopper, Elaina, said she started her Black Friday very early this morning but didn't find all the items she was hoping for. She said, "There's just too many people around. It's very hard to find the thing I needed but it's a lot of fun. My daughter-in-law and I came out here at 4:30 in the morning."

Many started this day before it even arrived by camping out in front of stores to get their hands on the best deals around. In Oneida County, some retailers opened their doors at 10PM last night. We spoke to one shopper named, Jennifer who said she started her day at 5AM. She said although she's walking away happy, she is realizing that she missed out on some good deals too. She said, "Most of the stuff I was coming for was already gone since it started at 10PM last night but I got a couple of good deals. We went to Wal-Mart first at 5--there was a lot of people there because there was a lot of electronic sales." She said she bought 2 Nintendo DS's for $89.

Nationwide, an estimated 138 million people will go shopping today according to the National Retail Federation. Black Friday is also the traditional launching of the holiday shopping season and many economist are predicting that this year will be the best since 2007. Cyber Monday, one of the biggest online shopping days of the year is also right around the corner for those who weren't able to shop on Black Friday.